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On February 16, 2005, four days before then vice president Arroyo’s oath-taking as the new president of the republic, people went in droves to the Edsa Shrine, site of the historic 1986 Edsa People Power Revolution. Classes were suspended in universities all over Metro Manila as students walked out of classes to march along Edsa, inviting other ordinary citizens to join them as everyone converged in front of the Edsa Shrine. The crowd stayed for five days until Joseph “Erap” Estrada, who faced sham impeachment proceedings based on plunder charges, stepped down due to mounting pressure. Other sectors were involved in the call for Estrada to resign, but it was clearly the voice of the youth that rang loudest. Days, if not weeks, after the event, it would be the faces of the Filipino youth which would be splashed on the front pages of newspapers and the covers of magazines in the region, calling what would be thereafter dubbed as Edsa II a young people’s revolution.

Now, the country’s political situation is again unstable as charges of election fraud, corruption, and involvement in “jueteng” (illegal numbers game) are hurled against Gloria Arroyo.

Rallyists and members of the opposition calling for her resignation or impeachment took to the streets of Makati’s Central Business District, while administration supporters gathered at the Rizal Park (Luneta) for a prayer rally with no speeches from major political figures.

But where was the youth?

While the student activists were present, as always, in the Makati rallies, and students coming mostly from Catholic schools in the metro were at Luneta with their teachers, the ordinary youth, those with no formal political affiliations who nevertheless marched during Edsa II in 2003, were nowhere to be seen.

John, 21, was at home watching the occasional news briefs on TV at the time of the rallies. He said he didn’t feel that the urgency for everyone to take to the streets was there yet. While he described himself as not necessarily anti-Gloria, he said neither was he pro-Gloria.

“There’s no need for another Edsa,” he said. “The country will just become more chaotic. Filipinos have to try using due process this time.”

Speculating on why the youth have not yet taken to the streets regarding the current political issue, he said “They don’t see the need. GMA is not as bad as Erap was. We have to find an alternative solution to the crisis.”

He said he doesn’t really want to see Arroyo resign. “There’s no leader,” he said. “It’s not even clear who the anti-Glorias are. There’s no unity among those opposing her.”

Rica, 22, agrees. “The anti-Glorias are in the same rally but they give different reasons for wanting to oust her. The issue is muddled unlike in Edsa II where everyone had the information and had a common goal,” she said. Besides this, she feels that there is no personality emerging as a possible replacement at the moment.

A newly certified public accountant, Rica was attending job interviews during the anti- and pro-Gloria rallies.

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